HARTFORD — The slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School has put opponents of more gun control here in a touchy spot.

Sympathy and momentum are not on their side after the mass murder of 20 first-graders and six staff members in a shooting rampage.

They likely will be testifying against legislation that some grieving parents, family members and close friends of the victims are going to be personally urging state lawmakers to approve.

The deadly school shooting in Newtown is recasting the debate on gun policy and causing some opponents of more gun control to rethink how they are going to make their case.

Gun owners wary of the legislature's response to Sandy Hook are going to be counting on Rep. Robert C. Sampson and other like-minded lawmakers to oppose more limits on firearms.

Sampson, R-Wolcott, said he plans on taking a low-key approach. He said he is going to appeal to common sense rather than emotion and talk reasonably about the facts.

"I don't want to come across as radical by any means," he said.

The tragedy in Newtown has not changed Sampson's deeply held views on the rights of gun owners and the constitutional sanctity of the Second Amendment.

"My opinion on all of this is it is a lot of hysteria and I don't believe that there are any gun laws that exist that would prevent a Sandy Hook situation — period," he said. "In fact, I think in general the Second Amendment makes us safer as a people, and if you look at violent crime statistics around the country and in the world, you find out where it is difficult for law-abiding citizens to own a gun there is more violent crime, not less."

SAMPSON IS FAR FROM ALONE in his views — and his determination to resist attempts to pass new restrictions on gun owners.

The Connecticut Citizens Defense League is resolved not to give any ground on gun control after Sandy Hook. It describes itself as the state's largest grassroots organization advocating for gun rights. The group named Sampson its legislator of the year for 2012.

"As bad as what happened in Sandy Hook was, we are not going to give up our rights to bear arms under the constitution," said Scott Wilson, the league's president.

He said the group was already bracing for more anti-gun legislation before a lone gunman shot his way into Sandy Hook and went on a killing rampage on the morning of Dec.14.

The league had been conducting workshops around the state to instruct gun owners on how to testify effectively and coordinate with one other.

Wilson said the group's leaders and members have given additional thought to how they should frame and present their arguments against more gun laws in light of the school massacre in Newtown.

Like Sampson, he said gun owners and their supporters need to be reasonable, respectful and factual, and not allow themselves to get carried away or goaded.

Michael Lawlor is a top adviser to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on criminal justice and a former House chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee.

Lawlor said he does not expect to hear the same volume of apocalyptic pronouncements that he heard when he ran public hearings on gun control bills.

"I just think we need to stick to the facts and the truth about the circumstances and what truly would have made a difference," Sampson said.

THE CONNECTICUT CITIZENS DEFENSE LEAGUE takes the position that compromise on any gun control measure is only going to encourage more proposals to restrict gun ownership. It sees a concerted push on the state and federal level to methodically dismantle the Second Amendment.

"I think that is sort of a destructive and poisonous view of the role of government and the status of government in our society," said Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven.

Sampson said such fears and distrust of the government are not far-fetched or paranoid.

"I think because of some of this hysteria we are going to give up civil liberties. As individuals and Americans, I think that is a bad idea and ultimately makes us less safe," he said.

LIKE ALL OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, Looney said, the protections of the Second Amendment are subject to reasonable regulation despite the absolutist position some of its defenders take.

"I am hopeful that the events in Sandy Hook will at least minimize some of the kind of automatic, negative knee-jerk reaction we often got from people who are opposed to gun control in any form," Looney said.

Wilson and Sampson said defenders of gun owner rights are determined not to allow the Sandy Hook killings to be used to bulldoze people's Second Amendment rights in Connecticut.

"I think the facts are with us and I think when you sit down and you recognize the reasons why you have circumstances like a Sandy Hook it has very little to do with guns," Sampson said. "It has a lot more to do with mental illness and how we treat safety in those types of environments. The fact is the more gun laws you make all you are doing is affecting people who pay attention to laws, and criminals don't pay attention to laws."

The legislature last had a high-profile debate on a gun bill two years ago when the Judiciary Committee introduced a measure to limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.

The Connecticut Citizens Defense League was instrumental in turning out droves of gun owners to testify against the controversial legislation in one of the largest public hearings that year.

THE BILL WAS SHELVED, but it is being revived this session because of Sandy Hook. Malloy supports the limit. His administration did not take a position on the 2011 legislation.

Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, expects that the turnout for the hearings on gun control bills will not be as one-sided as past debates.

"I think this tragedy in Newtown has changed everyone in Connecticut and now you have parents, you have average citizens looking at this issue in a way they have never looked at it before and quite frankly saying, 'Enough is enough,'" he said.

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, is co-sponsoring legislation to set a 10-round limit for ammunition clips. His five-town district includes Newtown.

"I had a meeting in Newtown with a number of community leaders and some people said we see no reason to still sell high-capacity magazines and we are OK with getting rid of them. I don't know if they would have said that four years ago, so I think people's opinions are changing," McKinney said.

McKinney agreed with Williams that the Sandy Hook massacre has lawmakers re-evaluating their positions on gun control.

"I think everybody is already thinking differently. I have talked to a number of colleagues who have been very strong supporters of the Second Amendment who are thinking differently," he said.

Sampson said he expects the legislature and Malloy are going to make changes to gun laws that gun owners oppose no matter what arguments they make and facts they present.

" It's good to have at least one legislator with a head on his shoulders who will think and act rationally with good reasoning rather then knee-jerk feel good legislation which would otherwise NEVER get passed were it not for the Newtown incident and most certainly do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO CURB GUN VIOLENCE.

Middle America, gun owners and future gun owners, do not sit complacently by and let your rights to self protection be weakened or eliminated. Speak up and be heard, LOUDLY and in great numbers.....otherwise your lack of action will result in what happened in this last presidential election - need I say more???? "

" You don't need an AR-15 to protect yourself. Let's get real - they're killing machines that are used for sport. In the wrong hands, they're deadly. How many of the AR-15 owners are part of "a well regulated militia" that is referred to in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? They take the words out of context to suit their own use. Let's protect our children and families by banning AR-15s and high capacity magazines. How many more innocent lives need to be lost? "

" How the hell do you guys know what a person needs an AR-15 for and if someone used it for protection???The cops have AR-15's and they can't protect our children so let me have my rifle, train me, and I will volunteer to protect children. "

" I wish people would stop referring to those who support our rights, acknowledged in the constitution, to bear arms as "pro gun". If anything they should be called "pro rights" or "pro constitutionalists". I don't own a gun, probably never will, but that doesn't change the fact that our constitution states that every American citizen has a RIGHT, God-given, to defend themselves and bear arms. That doesn't make me "pro gun" "

" Reality : semi auto rifles killed 300 people last year in this country, thats not a whole lot. These people committing these violent acts are on prescription meds look into it,lets get to the real root of the problem here .its easy to point fingers at guns but banning them will solve nothing. "

" "No one who owns a AR-15 has protected themselves with it. "Tell that to the Korean store owners who defended themselves during the Rodney King riots. Tell that to this 15yr old boy who defended his little sister against 2 violent thugs with one.http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/09/15-Year-Old-Boy-Uses-AR-15-To-Defend-House-Against-Burglars

Besides, anyone who has actually shot one knows that they function no differently then any other rifle. Anyone who wants to ban ARs really wants to ban all guns, because it is no more lethal then any other rifle made in the last 100yrs BTW, the AR15 has been around for more then 60 of those years. It's the best selling gun in the country. I bet if you look at the statistics far more people die in accidents involving Chevys then they do Jaguars. Does that make a Chevy more dangerous to have on the road then a Jag, or just more common? "

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